Penelope (2006 film)

Penelope
Directed by	Mark Palansky
Written by	Leslie Caveny
Produced by	Reese Witherspoon Scott Steindorff Dylan Russell Jennifer Simpson
Starring	Christina Ricci James McAvoy Catherine O'Hara Peter Dinklage Richard E. Grant Reese Witherspoon
Cinematography	Michel Amathieu
Edited by	Jon Gregory
Music by	Joby Talbot
Production companies	Stone Village Pictures Type A Films Grosvenor Park Productions Tatira Active Film Zephyr Films
Distributed by	Momentum Pictures (United Kingdom) Summit Entertainment (United States)
Release date	September 8, 2006 (2006-09-08) (TIFF) February 1, 2008 (2008-02-01) (United Kingdom) February 29, 2008 (2008-02-29) (United States)
Running time	104 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	$15 million
Box office	$21.2 million[1]

Penelope is a 2006 British-American fantasy romantic comedy film directed by Mark Palansky and starring Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, Catherine O'Hara, Peter Dinklage, Richard E. Grant, and Reese Witherspoon (who also produced the movie).^[2] The film details about a girl who is born with the nose of a pig due to a curse that was placed on her family by a vengeful witch.

Plot[]

A pregnant servant woman named Clara commits suicide after the family of a wealthy socialite, Ralph Wilhern, disapproved of their marriage. In revenge, Clara's witch mother cursed the next Wilhern daughter to be born with the face of a pig. The curse can only be lifted when "one of her own kind" learns to love her. Five generations later, Penelope (Christina Ricci) is born as the first true-blooded pig-faced daughter. To prevent publicity of Penelope's face, her mother Jessica (Catherine O'Hara) faked her daughter's death and shut her away in their mansion. When Penelope turned 18, her parents interpret the curse's counter as the love of a man of similar social status.

For the next seven years, Penelope and her family go through several possible suitors, but all of them flee in terror, including Edward Humphrey Vanderman III (Simon Woods). He works with tabloid reporter Lemon (Peter Dinklage) to photograph Penelope's face. They pay the young blue blood Max Campion (James McAvoy) to pose as a new suitor for Penelope, hiding a camera in his jacket. After having conversations with Penelope through a one-way mirror, Max and Penelope develop genuine feelings for each other; however, when Max sees her face, he is shocked (but not frightened) and accidentally triggers the camera. Regretful about his attempts to exploit Penelope, Max calls off his agreement with Lemon and Vanderman (though Jessica and matchmaker Wanda catch him doing so) and destroys the camera.

Inspired by Max's conversations about the outside world, Penelope flees home and journeys out into the city, selling photos of herself to Lemon to prove her existence to the world while using a scarf to cover her nose to keep anonymous. She is spotted by her parents and runs back to the bar she frequents, subsequently passing out, leading her friend Annie (Reese Witherspoon) to remove Penelope's scarf and reveal her as the elusive Penelope to the other guests. Penelope becomes an overnight celebrity, gaining adoring fans who are not disgusted by her face.

Meanwhile, Vanderman's father, having seen the public's fondness for Penelope and embarrassed by his son's vocal cruelty toward her, coerces Edward into proposing to her. Lemon eventually discovers that the man he and Vanderman recruited to photograph Penelope is not Max Campion, but actually Johnny Martin, after the real Campion (Nick Frost) is imprisoned for armed robbery. Lemon conveys Johnny's true identity and feelings for Penelope to Jessica and Wanda, but they choose not to let Penelope know. During the wedding ceremony, Penelope realizes that she does not want to marry simply to break the curse, despite her mother's wishes; she reasons that she likes herself the way she is. This breaks the curse, as Penelope has been loved by "one of her own kind" – herself – and her pig snout and ears disappear.

Penelope moves on and becomes an elementary school horticulture teacher, and the public's interest in her dissipates. She eventually learns from her mother the truth about "Max Campion" / Johnny Martin. She reunites with Johnny, who is still unaware the curse was broken, at a Halloween party while wearing a pig mask. After an awkward reunion between the two, Johnny kisses Penelope. Penelope then takes off her mask and reveals she had the power to lift the curse all along, and the two begin a romantic relationship. Jake, the Wilhern butler, is also revealed to be Clara's witch mother who cast the original curse. He then curses Jessica mute for how she treated Penelope. Lemon is also seen discreetly watching Johnny and Penelope at a park and is tempted to take a photo of them to prove that Penelope's curse has been lifted. He ultimately decides against it.

Cast[]

Background and production[]

The production of Penelope started in January 2006 in London and Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire. The film's screenplay was written by Leslie Caveny. A novelization of the film was written by Marilyn Kaye. It premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival.^[3] It was also Reese Witherspoon's first film in a producing role along with a small acting role. Shortly after, IFC Films acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, with The Weinstein Company handling the home media and television distribution, with a planned mid-2007 release.^[4] Summit Entertainment eventually picked up United States distribution rights.^[5]

Reception[]

Critical response[]

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film 53% based on 128 reviews. The site's consensus reads "Though Penelope has a charming cast and an appealing message, it ultimately suffers from faulty narrative and sloppy direction."^[6] Metacritic gives the film a weighted average rating of 48%, based on 29 reviews — indicating mixed or average reviews.^[7]

Box office[]

The film premiered September 8, 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival. It was also shown at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2007. The film opened in Russia and Ukraine in August 2007. Penelope was released in the United Kingdom on February 1, 2008. It opened in wide release in the United States and Canada on February 29, 2008.

The film opened in ninth place and earned $3.8 million USD on its opening weekend in the United States.^{[citation needed]}

By October 5, 2008, the film had grossed $20.8 million worldwide—with $6.5 million in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Malta.^[8]

Home media[]

Penelope was released on July 15, 2008 in the United States. It included a 2:35:1 anamorphic widescreen, and an English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround track. The extras were a behind-the-scenes featurette, cast and crew, production notes and world-premiere features from the upcoming Summit film Twilight as well as behind-the-scenes features and interviews from the film, released four months later. Only the German Blu-Ray version of the film, released in 2011, carries the full 104 minute version of the film. US and UK releases of the film are all the edited 88/89 minute cut.

Soundtrack[]

Joby Talbot composed the music for the film. A soundtrack album was released.

References[]

External links[]

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Penelope (2006 film)

• Official website
• Penelope at IMDb
• Penelope at AllMovie
• Penelope at Box Office Mojo